The Illinois Property Tax Appeals Board is short-staffed, and as a result nearly 87,500 Illinois real estate tax payers have a long wait ahead of them. One of the auditors estimated two years to process the pending cases.
In 2012 alone, 42,871 appeals were filed, nearly a 36% increase over 2011, and a whopping 226% increase since 2002, when the agency had twice as much staff as it does now. Back then, applications were fewer, and despite the larger staff, it still took a while to process files, though not as long as it does now.
The state legislature has set aside more funds to increase the staff at the appeals board, but even so, the staff won't reach 2002 levels.
So if your tax appeal is not getting processed, it's probably sitting in a pile somewhere with 42,000 other tax appeals in the same boat. It will get processed eventually, so sit tight.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Low Sales Price for Half-Interest in Real Estate Okay
A recent case, NAV Bank . LaSalle Bank, N.A., 2013 IL App
(1st) 121147 (January 22, 2013) Cook Co.,1st Div. found that it was fair to sell a half-interest in a home at a forced sale at a price significantly below half of the market value of the home.
NAV Bank revolves around a dispute over a single family home that began in the 1990s. After much litigation, one family, the Toms, won against the other party, Adeline Moy. Ms. Moy has since passed, and the Toms attempted to enforce the judgment against Ms. Moy by going after her interest in the home that she and her husband, Mr. Moy, owned.
After much maneuvering, Ms. Moy's half-interest in the home was sold. The Toms purchased the half-interest for $20,000, even though the house appraised at $280,000. No one else placed a bid. Mr. Moy asked the court to set aside the sale on the grounds that the sales price was too low.
In the end, the court did not agree. What it boils down to is this: Buying a half-interest in a house is nowhere near buying the entire house. Any such ownership will be fraught with difficulties and disputes. No one would pay half the market value of a house for buying only a half-share in the house. By its very nature, such a purchase must be significantly discounted. Therefore, the sales price of $20,000 is fair.
NAV Bank revolves around a dispute over a single family home that began in the 1990s. After much litigation, one family, the Toms, won against the other party, Adeline Moy. Ms. Moy has since passed, and the Toms attempted to enforce the judgment against Ms. Moy by going after her interest in the home that she and her husband, Mr. Moy, owned.
After much maneuvering, Ms. Moy's half-interest in the home was sold. The Toms purchased the half-interest for $20,000, even though the house appraised at $280,000. No one else placed a bid. Mr. Moy asked the court to set aside the sale on the grounds that the sales price was too low.
In the end, the court did not agree. What it boils down to is this: Buying a half-interest in a house is nowhere near buying the entire house. Any such ownership will be fraught with difficulties and disputes. No one would pay half the market value of a house for buying only a half-share in the house. By its very nature, such a purchase must be significantly discounted. Therefore, the sales price of $20,000 is fair.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Community Association Managers Require Licensing
If you are involved in community association management, or if you are a member of or on the board of a community association looking for a new manager for your association, you need to know that effective October 2012, community association managers in Illinois must be licensed under the Community Association Manager License and Disciplinary Act (CAMLDA).
Community association managers are not the same as property managers. To fall under the purview of the CAMLDA, a manager must be managing one or more community associations. A community association is a group that 1) individual unit owners must be a part of as a result of their ownership in a condominium association or other such homeowners' association, and 2) the association must have a right to impose assessments on unit owners.
Moreover, a community association manager may have a lot of responsibilities that a property manager doesn't have, such as collecting assessments, organizing and assisting with association and board meetings, maintaining association documentation and other records, dealing with unit owners selling their property in the association (as well as prospective buyers), and preparing budgets for board approval.
If all the manager is doing is managing rental apartments on behalf of an owner, he doesn't need a license under CAMLDA (although if it's not his own building, he may need a real estate license, but that's the subject of a separate post)!
Community association managers are not the same as property managers. To fall under the purview of the CAMLDA, a manager must be managing one or more community associations. A community association is a group that 1) individual unit owners must be a part of as a result of their ownership in a condominium association or other such homeowners' association, and 2) the association must have a right to impose assessments on unit owners.
Moreover, a community association manager may have a lot of responsibilities that a property manager doesn't have, such as collecting assessments, organizing and assisting with association and board meetings, maintaining association documentation and other records, dealing with unit owners selling their property in the association (as well as prospective buyers), and preparing budgets for board approval.
If all the manager is doing is managing rental apartments on behalf of an owner, he doesn't need a license under CAMLDA (although if it's not his own building, he may need a real estate license, but that's the subject of a separate post)!
Friday, March 1, 2013
What is a Special Assessment?
If you own or are buying a condominium, you may come across the term "special assessment". What does that mean? Well, there's a regular assessment, usually monthly, that you are paying towards the association's general maintenance expenses. But when there's a large scale improvement or repair that wasn't budgeted for, the association needs to get the money from somewhere. So what do they do? They assess it to the homeowners. It's not a part of the regular expense; hence, it's "special".
Often when you see a special assessment, it's for a big-ticket items like a roof repair, tuckpointing, sudden damage to the building, or some other large renovation or repair. Special assessments can be a few dollars or thousands of dollars, so make sure you do your diligence if you're buying . A Section 22.1 Disclosure is key to help you determine what costs you may be looking at in the near future. Even if you do all the diligence you possibly could, you may end up owing a special assessment anyway if there's an emergency repair needed.
As a condominium owner or condominium purchaser, make sure you are setting a little something by for a rainy day (i.e. a special assessment) in case you ever need it!
Often when you see a special assessment, it's for a big-ticket items like a roof repair, tuckpointing, sudden damage to the building, or some other large renovation or repair. Special assessments can be a few dollars or thousands of dollars, so make sure you do your diligence if you're buying . A Section 22.1 Disclosure is key to help you determine what costs you may be looking at in the near future. Even if you do all the diligence you possibly could, you may end up owing a special assessment anyway if there's an emergency repair needed.
As a condominium owner or condominium purchaser, make sure you are setting a little something by for a rainy day (i.e. a special assessment) in case you ever need it!
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